Colombaia Island in Trapani
The Isola della Colombaia is located at the eastern end of the port of Trapani and hosts the Castle of the same name, also known as Torre Peliade or Castello di mare, an ancient medieval Trapani fortress that represents one of the best examples of military architecture in Sicily.
It was built at the time of the First Punic War by the Carthaginian Amilcare Barca. Tradition instead connects the Dovecote with the Trojan exiles who landed in Trapani after the fall of their city in the 13th century BC. In 247 BC. the Roman consul Numerio Fabio Buteone attacked and conquered the islet of the Colombaia in a single night, killing all its occupants. After the Roman conquest the tower fell into neglect and was reduced to doves' nest, which had previously been used as communication, hence the name "dovecote". It is also believed that the tower was the seat of the pagan cult of the goddess Venus Ericina, of which the doves were a sacred animal. In the Middle Ages the tower was rebuilt by the Aragonese in its current octagonal shape, during the reign of Charles V it became a fortification, by the Bourbons it was transformed into a prison, in the Risorgimento it housed the Sicilian patriots, until 1965 it was used as a prison, finally it was abandoned.
The fortress is 32 meters high and consists of four superimposed floors, of which the first is used as a cistern. The original entrance was on the second floor. The windows and a balcony have been bricked up, a semi-destroyed and impracticable staircase. By now the island where the castle stands is completely abandoned and the main building is unsafe, access to the chapels, which are also unsafe, along with the courtyard have been limited.
